photo by: Overtime Elite

Taylen Kinney lines up a shot at the Overtime Elite combine on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Atlanta.

The Kansas men’s basketball team has its first commitment in the high school recruiting class of 2026.

Taylen Kinney, of Newport, Kentucky, announced on a CBS Sports livestream on Sunday that he will join KU next season. The 6-foot-3, 188-pound guard, as he was recently measured at the Overtime Elite Pro Day, picked the Jayhawks over Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville and Oregon.

“Coach (Bill) Self told me I was going to get to play right when I stepped in,” he said on the stream. “I was going to be the man. He threw me the keys and said this is my team next year. He wants me to be there for 10 months, take the next step.”

Kinney is a five-star prospect who ranks No. 17 overall and as the No. 2 point guard in the 247Sports Composite rankings. He visited Lawrence in late August, and Arkansas had the last chance to appeal to Kinney with a midweek visit less than two weeks prior to his commitment date, but he picked KU regardless.

“It was just different than any other school,” Kinney said. “They got a great coaching staff. They got Jacque Vaughn, he played in the NBA, coached in the NBA … Getting taught by a pro, that’s just a lot.”

He becomes the latest Overtime Elite player to choose the Jayhawks out of high school, following in the footsteps of Samis Calderon, Kohl Rosario and Bryson Tiller from the 2025 class. During the 2024-25 campaign at OTE, Kinney averaged 20.1 points, 5.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.3 steals while playing for RWE.

At the league’s Pro Day in Atlanta on Sept. 11, with Self in attendance, Kinney made a pair of brief appearances in live action, scoring two points with three assists and a steal in six minutes of one game, then recording five points, two steals and an assist in less than four minutes in another. In shooting drills at the same event, Kinney connected on 86.7% of his pull-up field goals percentage and 76% of his 3-point attempts.

On3’s Jamie Shaw wrote the following of Kinney after watching him at the NBPA Top 100 Camp in June: “He was able to consistently get into the paint and collapse a defense. He showed an array of counter dribbles and step back footwork to find open space to get clean looks. And the shooting was consistent. Throughout the week, Kinney knocked down shots off the catch and off movement. He was both efficient and confident.”

Shaw further wrote that Kinney needs to improve his strength in order to become a better defender, and to take care of the ball better.

Kinney is the first piece for KU’s next recruiting class after they brought in six freshmen for the upcoming 2025-26 season (three of them after the 2024-25 campaign ended). As a result of that large class, much of the Jayhawks’ current roster could be back next year, although KU does have several transfers in what is expected to be their final year of eligibility: Melvin Council Jr., Jayden Dawson, Nginyu Ngala and Tre White.